Robert Crowther’s ‘happening’ books
The author says his pop-up creations are opening the doors of literature to young readers
In a large black canvas bag Robert Crowther carries an invention that can make 3D cinema look inadequate. Travelling from session to session at the HSBC Galle Literary Festival (GLF) last month, Crowther presented its content to gobsmacked kids and teenagers; the contents are his awe-inspiring interactive books.
The 63-year-old author and ‘paper engineer’, brings his black bag to the interview, he selects a book on cars and opens up the middle page; instantly a 3D vintage car pops up—a shiny bottle green model of an Oldsmobile from the 1940s, if I’m not mistaken.
Robert pulls the blue glassy shutters up and down and demonstrates many other fiddly bits on the cardboard model that move and shift. Suffice to say we are blown away. Robert has been making pop-up books since he was at the Royal College of Art during his MA years. He’s published 45 interactive books over the past 35 years- entertaining, educating and encouraging children to read books.
With the modern world fast becoming a digital one, Robert feels children are beginning to abandon reading, enticed by newfangled digital devices. “I think that might be the case; in particular boys are not keen on opening a book like this. They open it and think—oh what’s that,” says Robert explaining how his pop-up books open the doors of literature for young readers. “They have to start to read the text or try to read the text and I think this kind of book draws young children into reading. I think it is probably a recent problem because particularly in England, I don’t know about Sri Lanka, children would have computer games and various mobile phones and thingsa lot of electronic gadgets. And I think there’s a reluctance to read sometimes.”
Of course that’s not the only reason why Robert loves making interactive books. He enjoys the challenge of creating new and fun mechanisms, constantly trying to outdo himself. “For me that’s the most interesting bit. That’s the bit where I feel most inspired. Somehow working- looking at a blank sheet of paper I have no idea what to do but as soon as I make something it then suggests something else to me. So I would make a lot more ideas in cards; very rough roughs. And then I decide on the best ones and work them up. And that’s the way it goes. I never know how it’s going to be.”
He started out simple, teaching himself how interactive books worked while studying for his MA at the Royal College of Art. “I suppose I’ve learnt a certain how to- this book is how I learnt how to do in art college,” he flips through his first, most popular and still in print more than three decades since it was published.” I learnt by going to bookshops and looking down the backs of pages trying to see how it moves and then going away and trying it. And so that’s how I learnt to make a pop up but some of the books I’ve done since then; I hate to take credit for because I don’t think anything is really original but this over-taking mechanism I don’t think anyone else has done it.” He demonstrates two race cars speeding along and one overtaking the other simply with a pull of a paper lever. “If they have they’ve pinched my idea,” he laughs. “I’m still learning; even in my advanced old age I’m still learning about making things happen.”
Working on his latest book Extreme Animals, Robert says he’s learnt the difference between Sri Lankan elephants and African elephants. He’ll be sure to draw the right animals for each country. Intrigued by the animals around his hotel in Galle, Robert is thrilled about adding endemic Sri Lankan animals in his new book.
His work-in-progress is a simpler pop-up book however; employing the somewhat trouble-free mechanisms of his first alphabet book. With more complicated mechanisms, such as in his books about automobiles, Robert’s had his fair share of ‘inventor meets production’ problems. “Yes, quite often they struggle,” he shares referring to the printers. “Although when I make the roughs they go away to the printer and he makes a white dummy rough, a plain dummy and you can see where the problems might be. But in recent that hasn’t really been a problem. It only becomes a problem if you have something really tiny. Some of these mechanics are prone to go wrong but I try not to use mechanics that I think might go wrong. And also sometimes the colour isn’t so great- when I first started they were printed in Columbia mostly and the colour was not really great when you looked at the original but since they been printed in the far east Singapore and Thailand and I think some in China they are much more accurate, much better.”
Robert’s favourite book of his impressive collection is the one on Trains. In fact his books on automobiles have proved to be a hit with adults. The complexity of the paper engineering and the bundles of information packed into the books have adult fans purchasing his publications. “Yeah, a lot of adults do like the books,” says Robert with a smile. “Some of the transport books I know they’ve been bought for adult boys.”